wfn.org | Newsline: Brethren staff take part in national conversations on disaster guidelines

[CoBNews <CoBNews@brethren.org>]

Newsline: Church of the Brethren News Service, News Director Cheryl Brumbau gh-Cayford, 800-323-8039 ext. 260, cobnews@brethren.org

Brethren staff take part in national conversations on disaster guidelines

(Oct. 19, 2009) Elgin, IL -- Leading staff of two Church of the Brethren pr ograms - Brethren Disaster Ministries and Children's Disaster Services - ha ve been part of efforts to draft guidelines for disaster response:

Judy Bezon of Children's Disaster Services has contributed to an interim re port from the National Commission on Children and Disasters about the needs  of children in disasters.

Roy Winter of Brethren Disaster Ministries has contributed to a document fr om the National Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster (NVOAD) defining  how to minister emotionally and spiritually to people in times of disaster .

Winter has been part of the NVOAD Emotional and Spiritual Care Committee si nce it began shortly after the 9-11 attacks of 2001, and currently is NVOAD  board liaison to the committee.

"I think it is an amazing piece of work in that a very broad group--interfa ith actually--could develop a consensus," Winter said about the new documen t titled "Disaster Spiritual Care Points of Consensus." He explained how th e document will serve the church's ministries, saying, "This is intended to  give guidance on how we interact with disaster survivors, no matter our ro le--even if rebuilding homes or caring for children."

Some 49 organizations are part of NVOAD, according to a release from Church  World Service. The NVOAD organizations "are the driving force behind disas ter recovery in the United States," CWS said. "National VOAD facilitates co operation among every major nonprofit and faith-based disaster response org anization in the US. National VOAD agencies focus on all stages of disaster --preparedness, relief, response, recovery, and mitigation. In 2008, these  organizations provided more than $200 million dollars in direct financial a ssistance and more than 7 million hours in volunteer labor."

This is the first time that minimum standards of care have been set for how  to minister emotionally and spiritually in times of disaster, CWS said in  the release that focused on the respectful nature of the cooperative effort  among faith-based organizations ranging from Catholic to Scientologist, Pr otestant to Buddhist and Jewish.

The set of standards outlines protections for disaster survivors at a time  of physical, spiritual, emotional, and psychological challenge. The 10 poin ts of consensus include: basic concepts of disaster spiritual care; types o f disaster spiritual care; local community resources; disaster emotional ca re and its relationship to disaster spiritual care; disaster spiritual care  in response and recovery; disaster emotional and spiritual care for the ca re giver; planning, preparedness, training, and mitigation as spiritual car e components; disaster spiritual care in diversity; disaster, trauma, and v ulnerability; and ethics and standards of care.

To learn more about NVOAD and to review the Points of Consensus in its enti rety go to www.nvoad.org .

Children's Disaster Services was part of a subcommittee that contributed to  a section on shelter needs for children in the interim report from the Nat ional Commission on Children and Disasters. CDS is a Church of the Brethren  ministry and the oldest organization of its kind in the US, having started  caring for children in disaster situations in 1980.

A release quoted Bezon on how children may be neglected in disasters. "Chil d neglect is generally not intentional," she said. "Parents are left thinki ng about food, clothing, and shelter and whether they still have a job to p rovide clothing, food, and shelter." The work of Children's Disaster Servic es has been to help care for children while parents are focused on other pr iorities. "At the same time we're supporting the children, we're supporting  the parents and the family because if they are living in a shelter they ge t a break and know that their children are safe with us," Bezon said.

The National Commission's interim report identifies areas for improvement i n disaster assistance for children, references recent disasters such as Hur ricane Katrina in which children's needs were not met, and makes recommenda tions to improve care. Recommendations include assuring academic continuity  following disasters, giving priority for  housing assistance to families w ith school-aged children and especially those whose children have special n eeds, providing appropriate play and recreation options following disasters , and providing children access to crisis, bereavement, and mental health s ervices.

The Church of the Brethren is a Christian denomination committed to continu ing the work of Jesus peacefully and simply, and to living out its faith in  community. The denomination is based in the Anabaptist and Pietist faith t raditions and is one of the three Historic Peace Churches. It celebrated it s 300th anniversary in 2008. It counts some 125,000 members across the Unit ed States and Puerto Rico, and has missions and sister churches in Nigeria,  Brazil, the Dominican Republic, Haiti, and India.

># # #

>For more information contact:

>Cheryl Brumbaugh-Cayford
>Director of News Services
>Church of the Brethren
>1451 Dundee Ave., Elgin, IL 60120
>800-323-8039 ext. 260
>cobnews@brethren.org